Before there was T-Pain, there was Roger

You can’t listen to the radio without hearing a song by T-Pain or Lil Wayne or T-Pain and Lil Wayne. T-Pain and his vocoder have taken over popular music. He has to be a millionaire several times over from writing, producing and “singing” for himself and other artists. Unless you are over 30 and/or are a frequent listener of the Tom Joyner Morning Show then you wouldn’t know that T-Pain’s style derives from the work of Roger Troutman.
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Roger’s music could get any party started. More Bounce to the Ounce, Computer Love, I Wanna Be Your Man (which was the last dance at my prom) and of course California Love. I will admit that I like some of T-Pain’s music and it sounds as if technology has evolved with the musical equipment because you can hear more of T-Pain’s voice where Roger’s sounded more synthesized. And T-Pain doesn’t have that “straw” hanging out of his mouth (see Roger and Snoop videos below). I heard a joke that Roger must be rolling over in his grave because he may have gone platinum once in his career and T-Pain has gotten rich with this style of music. But according to the Wikipedia article, the younger artists have given Roger credit which I am glad. Enjoy some of Roger and Roger inspired music below:

Boy, pull your pants up!!!

Chicago 1941

I love this picture. These are some young boys in 1941 in Chicago. They look so classy. Trends come and go and sometimes I think the older generations can be hard on young kids and the trends they follow. But everybody has to remember that they too were young once upon a time and probably went through some stage or followed a really stupid trend or style. We all did, and I dare anyone to go through their old pictures and yearbook if you don’t believe me. But there is one “style” or trend that is just plain stupid and frankly just ignorant and that’s the “pants hanging off your a** look”. I don’t get it, I think it is vulgar and just ridiculous. The pants started out big, got bigger, started to “sag” off the butt and now are belted completely below the buttocks. These kids can’t even walk and have to hold the crotch just to be able to walk. Just plain stupid!! Too many people have fought, died and sacrificed for you to walk around like this. It’s not cool, you look like a fool!
Boy, pull your pants up!!!!!!!
Ok, I’m done:)

Asparagus-Man What’s That Smell??

I am writing this post because I know there is somebody out there like me who is going to google this, hell I did. There is somebody out there who went out last night on a romantic date to a nice restaurant and ordered the prime rib, roasted garlic potatoes and asparagus spears. Maybe went dancing, had a few drinks and went back to his place and……….woke up the next day and went to the bathroom and said what the??? And got scared that something in the milk wasn’t clean. You can relax.
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Celebrating the Dream

Technology-You’ve Come A Long Way Baby

Remember the days when you had to remember phone numbers because they weren’t stored in your phone. Or had to type a paper on a typewriter or word processor? What about rewinding a tape? Remember those primitive video games like Pac Man, Colecovison or that original Atari game where you played tennis bouncing the little blip off of the white bars (I found out it was called Pong). We’ll we’ve come a long way baby. Blackberries, CD’s, flat screen televisions, computers that run at light speeds. Technology has truly made our lives easier in a lot of ways but some would say it has made us lazy. People don’t read books as much anymore, people have become more obese because we sit in front of our tv’s and computers. Technology is the same as anything else, you have to use it and don’t abuse it. But still it is a shame that I don’t know my own mama’s number.

Prince Rogers Nelson

I remember when I first saw these album covers of Prince. I remember picking these up at my aunt Pat’s house and staring at it, wondering who the hell is this guy. I was pretty young but I remember thinking this guy is a little freaky:) He had his hair pressed out and was wearing g-strings. On the back of one of these albums he’s butt naked riding a unicorn or something. But I got past all of that and got into the music and realized this guy was pretty talented. Prince has gone on to have a long, interesting career and has fans of all backgrounds from all over the world. And though we may not “really” know much about him and make think him a little odd at times, no one can deny that he is a gifted musician and has given us lots of hits over the years. Some of my favorites: I Could Never Take The Place of Your Man, Erotic City, When Doves Cry, It, Hot Thang, Lady Cab Driver and the Purple Rain soundtrack from beginning to end. Since Prince is not down with YouTube here are some Prince inspired tunes from some of his protegees.